


An Unexpected Meeting at Mount Nantai

by MarioMisc



Series: Oneshots [4]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Awkwardness, Bullying, F/F, First Meeting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Oneshot, Pearlina, Pearlina Week, Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-18 12:37:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19334674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarioMisc/pseuds/MarioMisc
Summary: Pearl comes to Mount Nantai each night to hang out, but one day, someone else appears. (Written for the Mount Nantai prompt for CJ Walker’s Pearlina Week)





	An Unexpected Meeting at Mount Nantai

**Author's Note:**

> Wowie I love this Pearlina Week thing. I can’t promise I’ll make a oneshot for every prompt but I’ll try to make as many of them as I can.

The glorious orange sky was transitioning into darkness as the sun came down. The people who saw the great sunset started packing up their blankets, getting into their cars, and driving home. The place became deserted shortly after the sky turned dark… mostly.

Each night, a small Inkling came to the place. She brought no car or anything, as she lived walking distance from the mountain. She came and sat on the hard rocky floor. After busy days working, she went and counted the stars or closed her eyes, though sometimes her adventurous side kicked in and even tried to explore different parts of the mountain. She came there just to relax, just to enjoy the nature, and just to enjoy her life.

That Inkling, whose name was Pearl, came to this mountain every day, and each day she was alone, until one night. The small Inkling had her eyes closed, thinking about her dream of becoming a popular musician, until she heard some footsteps. Pearl quickly got up and looked all around her to find out who was there, but there was simply nobody in her sight. With that, she went back to what she was doing… and then she heard it again.

Standing up again, Pearl yelled, “Yo, is anybody there?”

No answer.

Pearl started to lay down again until she heard the footsteps yet again. She stood up and started walking towards the direction of the footsteps.

“Who in the world could be here at this time of day?” The tiny Inkling muttered. “It’s nighttime! Nobody comes here at that time!”

She took a right and saw something unbelievable to her. She saw a dark-skinned female figure wearing some sort of skimpy armor with shorts on. She was tall, but her tentacles were the opposite- very short, not even reaching her neck besides one of them. They all were predominantly dark, but with teal ends, and Pearl honestly found them and the whole tentacle-style to be pretty cute. Pearl also noticed that the girl had a green laptop leaning against her body and left arm.

However, she then squinted her eyes to get a clearer look of the tentacles and noticed that her suction cups were on the outside of the tentacles.

That girl was Octarian.

Pearl sneakily moved behind a rock, making sure not to make any loud noises.

“An Octoling,” Pearl thought out loud through whispering, “in Inkopolis? How? My parents had always told me to stay away from Octolings… no. I’m twenty one now. I don’t need to listen to my parents anymore. I can’t just assume she’s bad because of her species…”

Pearl raised her head so her eyes were right above the rock. From behind, she witnessed the girl still standing there, yet she heard her unleash a sigh. The girl turned around, and, without noticing Pearl, shouted “Hello?!” with an incredibly thick accent… one that Pearl couldn’t help but find adorable.

After seeing the Octarian girl’s face, Pearl immediately started hiding behind the rock again, her face red like ketchup.

Pearl whispered to herself, “What… the fuck… She’s… freaking… g-g-g-gorgeous… WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Pearl began sweating. How was she supposed to communicate with a girl that STUNNING? She had no idea. Her soft, teal eyes completed with pink pupils and an underlying black shade… her smooth dark skin… her tentacles… Pearl’s face only got redder.

“Hello?” The Octarian yelled again. “I… I not bad! Please! I just… want help!”

Pearl desperately wanted to talk to the girl, but she knew that if Pearl made it obvious just how… beautiful she thought the Octarian was, then the girl would possibly be scared off.

Suddenly, an idea came in Pearl’s head. She drained as much red from her face as possible by slowly calming down, trying to think of a plan, and then, with newfound confidence, rose from behind the rock. She was facing the opposite direction of the Octoling, intending on holding no eye contact whatsoever with the girl.

Luckily enough, Pearl happened to be in the Octoling’s sight. “Miss! Miss!” She yelled out as she ran close to the tiny girl.

Pearl almost flinched when she saw the girl’s shadow, indicating that she was close.

“Miss, hello?!”

“Uh, hey,” Pearl said, still facing away from Marina.

“Um… I know we don’t… really know each other but… CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME?!” The girl yelled with a desperate tone.

Pearl responded, “Yeah, of course! What do ya need?”

“Can… can you tell me your opinion on this piece of music I made?”

Pearl heard a laptop open up behind her. “P-P-Please?” She heard the girl mutter.

Pearl knew that this meant she probably had to turn around, unless she did something bizarre like make the girl put the laptop above and in front of her head for Pearl to take with her hands. She desperately wanted to help the Octarian, but was too shy and afraid to face her.

“I… I don’t know how to put this… I’m really sorry but… I can’t. Listen. To your. Song.” Pearl let out those words in a dreadful tone, which only made her sadder.

“You… seem disappointed. Why can’t you listen?”

Pearl knew she was going to ask that.

“I… I can’t… face you. I… um… I’m too ugly.”

“Ugly? Inkling, I’m sure you look beautiful! You should have no problem looking at me. I don’t judge.” She said in a soft tone.

“I… I’m sorry, girl. I can’t.”

“But… you… you really… shouldn’t feel that way. Trust me, you can’t just live in the dark! Embrace yourself! Please, you must...”

Pearl couldn’t let the Octarian down, and she thought for a bit about how… cowardly she seemed. She so badly wanted to meet her, as she had never met an Octarian before and she appeared to be in desperate need for help… not to mention just how ATTRACTIVE she was… cod… but the Octoling probably didn’t want to hang out with a coward...

“Um…”

“Yes?”

“I’ll…”

The Octarian repeated herself, “Yes, Inkling?”

Pearl let out a loud sigh. She had to suck it up, so she turned around, eyes closed at first but after they slowly opened.

“Uh, hi. I’m Pearl.”

To Pearl’s complete surprise, the Octoling was left with a slight blush as Pearl fought insanely hard to keep any blushes dormant.

“You’re… you’re beautiful…” The Octarian muttered.

Pearl only showed complete confusion upon hearing the complement. “Uh… excuse me?”

“Uh, did I scare you?! I’m sorry!” The Octarian was left with a terrified look.

“Huh? Oh no no no no no… not at all! I’m just… you’ve gotta be joking, right?”

“No! I think you’re gorgeous. I… I have no idea how anybody could think you were ugly.”

A small blush formed on Pearl’s cheeks. “R-Really? You’re serious?”

“Yes, Pearl. I am.” The Octarian said firmly. “Oh, I’m sorry! I forgot to introduce myself! I’m Marina. Marina Ida.”

“Pearl Houzuki. Nice to meet ya! Uh… I think you’re pretty too!” Pearl immediately regretted that comment. Not only did it just come out in an incredibly awkward fashion, but it basically turned her whole face into a tomato.

“Oh, thank you! You’re… you’re the first Inkling to call me that…”

“Wait, seriously?” Again, another comment Pearl didn’t mean to say out loud. What was up with her? This confidence was messing her up…

“Uh… yeah. Actually… a lot of people have called me ugly and too tall and have stated that my accent is obnoxious in this town…” she said sadly.

“What?! That can’t be true!”

“It… it is. I’ve only been here for two weeks. I managed to get myself a small house off Nantai Drive… and the neighbors aren’t a fan.”

“That’s bullshit! Don’t let em get to ya, Marina!”

“I… try not to.”

Pearl just didn’t understand it. How in the world could people call this ADORABLE girl ugly… obnoxious… oversized… there’s no way! Even if someone hated Octarians, one couldn’t deny Marina’s beauty and cute voice. Cod… Pearl shook her head.

“Anyways, you want me to listen to your song?”

“Oh, yes!” Pearl took Marina’s laptop as the Octarian got out a pair of earbuds from her right pocket and held them out to Pearl. The small girl took them and gave the song a listen.

Saying it was good was an understatement.

“Cod, that was amazing.”

“Really? Thank you! I’m sorry you couldn’t understand the language. I wrote the song two years ago, when I was 16, back down with the Octarians. Back then, I was not fluent in Inkling. I hoped to get into this band called Turquoise October but they rejected it.”

“How in the-”

“I had a job, Pearl. I was a combat engineer.”

Pearl’s jaw dropped. “Uh… they had…”

“Yeah, um…” Marina looked very uncomfortable, and Pearl even saw a tear coming out of her eye.

“Child soldiers, yeah,” Marina said. “Very bad… I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Ah, I see. I understand.”

“I’m okay, though. Don’t worry about it.”

“Alright then...” Geez, Pearl felt bad for the girl.

Pearl looked down at her watch. “Oh, it’s getting rather late! Do you have a phone?”

Marina replied, “No, not yet but… I’m saving up to get one soon!”

“Alright! How about we meet back here tomorrow. Eight o’clock?”

“Alright! Thank you for the kind words, Pearlie!” And with that, Marina went running back to her home.

“Pearlie,” Pearl repeated to herself as she felt a blush form on her cheeks. “She’s adorable.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed. Please kudos if you did and comment if you have something to say! Thank you!  
> Writing updates are at my Twitter: @Mario_Misc


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